Household-Level Determinants of Low-Carbon Cooking Technology Adoption in Rural Sierra Leone: Evidence from Bombali, Port Loko and Tonkolili

This study examined the household-level factors associated with the adoption of low-carbon cooking technologies using cross-sectional survey data from 600 households in Bombali, Port Loko and Tonkolili districts. Adoption was defined as the use of at least one improved biomass stove, liquefied petroleum gas, biogas, ethanol or electric cooking technology, while households relying exclusively on traditional three-stone fires or unimproved stoves were classified as non-adopters. The analysis employed descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, Welch mean-difference tests and a heteroskedasticity-robust linear probability model. The findings show that 38.0% of households had adopted at least one low-carbon cooking technology. Adoption rates were 39.2% in Bombali, 38.5% in Port Loko and 36.2% in Tonkolili, with no statistically significant differences across districts, χ²(2) = 0.41, p = 0.817. Household income, education, household size, female household headship, awareness, access to credit, stove cost, fuel price and market distance were not statistically significant predictors of adoption in the multivariable model. The model explained only 0.3% of the variation in adoption, suggesting that the measured household-level characteristics provided limited explanatory power. The findings indicate that low-carbon cooking adoption may be shaped more strongly by wider structural and institutional conditions, including technology availability, rural supply systems, distribution networks, programme design and maintenance support.